


Better Together

by missred



Category: Bandom, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Brotp, Dizziness, Fever, Gen, Josh is a stubborn dumb bum, Sick Fic, Sickfic, Tyler is not having Josh's BS, but really that's on you, can be a relationship fic if you squint, prompt 11, shameless fluff, sick!fic, this is straight up a friend fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-21
Updated: 2014-10-21
Packaged: 2018-02-22 02:14:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2490725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missred/pseuds/missred
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Josh knows he always has to have it together. Off days are for people who don't have anyone else counting on them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Better Together

Tyler knocked on Josh’s door again. They had an interview in an hour and Josh wasn’t answering his texts. Josh never just _didn’t answer_. At first Tyler thought he was sleeping, but it was four in the afternoon now.

“Josh?” Tyler shouted.

“Open up!”

“One sec!"

The door eased open and Tyler could see Josh leaning in the frame. He was still wearing his pj pants and his hair was sticking up at all angles.

"What do you want?" Josh asked, not unkindly,  but with none of his usual mellow cheerfulness.

"Umm.." Tyler hesitated, taken aback. "We have an interview pretty soon, and you weren't answering my texts."

"SHIT." Josh exclaimed,  voice cracking.

He raced back inside,  bolted up the stairs, and disappeared into his room.

"Give me five minutes!" Josh yelled as Tyler trailed him up  the stairs.

He heard some frantic drawer slamming,  and when he stuck his head in a moment later Tyler found Josh shirtless and wriggling into a pair of dark jeans. Thirty seconds later he had added a gray t shirt and a hoodie to the ensemble. Tyler watched as Josh regarded his bed head tangled hair for a moment before sighing and grabbing his baseball cap off the chair in the corner.

"Let's go. "

It was a quiet drive to the building the interview was scheduled in. Josh slouched against the window and stared at the gray sky racing by. Tyler didn’t mind the silence, but it wasn’t like Josh. A few times he asked if Josh was okay, but on the third time, Josh sort of snapped at him, that he was

“ _Fine_ ,Tyler. Just like I was ten minutes ago.”

And Tyler could concede that maybe he was being annoying, so he kept quiet. When they made it to interview, the gray clouds had turned darker, and thunder rumbled in the distance. The parking lot was a long, winding road away from the actual building, and by the time Tyler parked, the foreboding weather had turned into a full on storm. It was at least a quarter mile to the doors. Tyler sighed and pulled his jacket on. He’d kept his windbreaker in his car, and it protected him pretty well from the rain. Josh, however, had only the hoodie he’ thrown on before they’d left. Tyler was all for sprinting to the building, but Josh only put his hood up and his head down, staring at his shoes as he trudged slowly through the downpour. Unwillingly to leave him behind, Tyler wordlessly matched his pace.

The interviewer was waiting for them when the pair stepped into the entrance hall. There was table and three chairs set up. It was for a magazine, so neither of them had to look particularly good. Tyler was thankful for that as he peeled off his soaked jacket. Josh was soaked down to the skin, dripping rivulets of water onto the carpet. He quietly introduced himself to the woman interviewing them, and for a moment he seemed like his regular self, grinning and apologizing for his wet clothes. The woman laughed, charmed, and well who wasn’t, by Josh? Throughout the interview though, Josh stayed pretty quiet. Tyler always talked more in these things, not on purpose or anything, it was just how things went. This time, Josh said almost nothing, only chiming in when a question was posed directly to him. Usually, even when he was not answering, Josh was engaged, nodding and smiling in response to Tyler, but now he didn’t seem to be paying any attention at all. The AC was blasting in the small building, and every time Tyler glanced over he could see Josh shaking slighting, soaking clothes still plastered to his body. Josh spent most of the interview staring vacantly into space. Tyler was officially worried.

It was still storming hard when Tyler led Josh to the door. His hands were icy cold. This time, Tyler made a run for the car and drove it to the door, picking Josh up from where he’d waited, hands in wet pockets, under the small awning. Tyler cranked the heat as soon as he got in the car, but Josh’s teeth were chattering when he hopped into the car, mumbling an apology for getting Tyler’s car wet.

“Dude, shut up and get in the car. Seriously, what’s up with you today?”

“Nothing.” Josh muttered, but he sounded neither as convincing or irritated as he had on the way there.

“I do usually let you get away with it, but you’re a really awful liar, Josh.” Tyler told him as he merged carefully onto the freeway.

Joshed sighed.

“I just don’t feel good.” Josh whispered to the window. “It’s nothing.”

“Josh!” Tyler swerved a little as he tried to feel Josh’s forehead for a fever. He was definitely warm, despite his shivering.

“Why didn’t you just tell me? You didn’t have to come to the interview today.”

Josh batted his hand away.

“Keep both hands on the wheel please.” And then, “We’re a two-man band, Tye, I kind of _do_.”

“We could have rescheduled then. It’s not worth you going sick Josh.”

“I’m not sick, I just don’t feel great, it’s fine.”

And Tyler let out a frustrated huff because Josh was an amazing drummer and better friend, but he was so goddamn _stubborn_.

“You drive me crazy.”

“That’s my job.” Josh grinned, but his voice was hoarse. Tyler glanced over and saw the dark circles under his eyes, the way his beard was definitely more than the casual scruff he normally kept it to. How had he missed this?

Tyler pulled into Josh’s driveway and turned the car off.

Josh paused as he unbuckled, and watched, confused, as Tyler pulled out his keys and slipped them into his pocket.

“What are you doing?”

“Well I’m not leaving you alone to die.” Tyler responded matter-of-factly.

Josh rolled his eyes.

“I’m not gonna _die,_ stupid. I’m just gonna go sleep for a while.”

“See that’s where you’re wrong,” Tyler declared as he followed Josh inside.

“You’re going to take that wet shit off, take a hot shower, and then you’re going to come back down here and take whatever I find in your house to help with fevers.”

Joshed peeled on his damp sweatshirt and threw it over the banister

“I don’t have a fever Tye.”

Tyler stared at his flushed cheeks and bit his tongue.

“You wanna bet?”

Joshed smirked.

“Sure.”

“Ten bucks says you’re at least breaking 100 right now.”

Josh laughed.

“You’re on, dude, I’m freezing. You’re gonna lose.”

He made a show of stomping upstairs, and a minute later Tyler could hear the water running. He rummaged around the cabinets in Josh’s kitchen and downstairs bathroom. He found a couple packets of theraflu in the drawer where Josh kept tea bags and extra coffee. Unfortunately, Josh only had the nighttime kind left. Tyler glanced at his watch. 7:30 was late enough.

As it neared 8, though, Tyler began to get worried. The shower had been off for a long time--so where was Josh? Figuring he was just hiding out in his room, Tyler checked there first but found it empty. He knocked on the bathroom door.

“Josh?”

“Yeah.” Came a weak reply.

Tyler didn’t need an invitation. He pushed through the door and saw Josh on the floor half dressed, leaning against the bathtub, head tilted back against the glass.

“What happened?” Tyler couldn’t keep his voice calm.

“Nothing happened, man.” Josh told him with a smile that didn’t reassure Tyler.

“I got a little dizzy. So I decided to sit down for a second.”

Tyler let out a concerned huff.

“You are so full of shit. C’mon, let’s get you up.”

“I’m okay, Tye.” Josh mumbled.

But he accepted the hand hand Tyler offered him and let himself be pulled up. Tyler didn’t miss the way he swayed as he stood.

“Couch time.” Tyler told him, grabbing a t shirt from Josh’s room as they passed. Josh hummed a noise of assent.

Downstairs, he plunked down on the couch and let out a contented groan.

“I love my couch.” He told Tyler. “My couch is the best.”

“Uh huh.” Tyler sat down next to his friend and ran the back of his hand over Josh’s forehead.

“You ready to lose a bet?”

“You mean am I ready to be 10 bucks richer? Hell yeah I am.”

Tyler tossed him the thermometer he’d found in the bathroom and they both waited, Josh smirking while he held the thing under his tongue. At the “beep” Josh whipped it out and stared at the numbers triumphantly. Tyler cackled as his face fell.

“It’s broken, Tye. I don’t even know where I got this, it doesn’t work.”

Tyler grabbed the thermometer and read the numbers: 101.3.

“Nah Josh, that sounds about right.”

“No it _doesn’t_.” Josh told him, crossing his arms.

“Okay, okay.” Tyler held his hands up in mock surrender.

“New deal. You drink this delicious beverage I made you, and we’ll call it even.”

Josh eyed the steaming glass of theraflu distastefully, but nodded.

“I can do that.”

A minute later he was grimacing as he chugged the bright orange drink.

“That stuff is truly disgusting.” He told Tyler, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

“I’m pretty sure my mom bought it, cause I don’t hate myself enough to spend money on that.”

Tyler shrugged.

“It was the only thing you had. How the hell do you not even keep Tylenol in your house?”

“Cause I have _Tyler_ nol right here.” Josh laughed so hard he wheezed, and Tyler hit him with a pillow.

“That was probably the worst pun in the history of puns.”

“And it was made about you. You should be honored.” Josh told him.

“I’m so honored.” Tyler repeated sarcastically.

“Oh!” Josh shouted suddenly.

“Woah, what?” Tyler asked, taken aback.

“I think Nightmare Before Christmas is on tonight. We have to watch it, Tye.”

“You’ve seen it like 30 times, Josh.”

“Let’s go for round 31.” Josh shot back.

And he looked so excited that Tyler really didn’t have a good comeback. He dug the clicker out from in between the couch cushions and channel surfed until he found the movie. It was a couple minutes in, but Josh didn’t seem bothered. He sang along, almost unconsciously, to all of the songs. When the Boogie Man’s song came and there was silence from the other side of the couch, Tyler looked over and saw Josh snoring into a throw pillow.

Tyler smiled and added tossed another blanket over him, settling deeper into the couch.

In the morning, when Josh woke up and saw that Tyler was still there, slouched over and asleep on his legs, he had the unshakeable feeling that joining this two-man band was the best thing he had ever done.

"Tyler?" He asked softly.

"You asleep?"

M'not anymore." Tyler mumbles back, sleepily lifting his head from it's position on Josh's thighs

"Sorry."

"S'okay."

"Thanks for staying."

"Don't be stupid. We're better together."

"I know."

And they both went back to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> This was an anon prompt for someone who wanted sickfic where Josh was the one who got sick. In the process of writing this I fell in love with 21 pilots, who I had not listened to before this. I loved this prompt. Thanks, anon.


End file.
